Low Hanging Fruit

Every once in awhile, some knucklehead does or says something that unambiguously illustrates the reality of male privilege. It’s sort of low hanging blogging fruit for me.

The other day I noticed this story, about some yahoos out of Texas who created a truck decal that depicts a bound and tied woman. Evidently this thing is so real that people have seen it and called the police. Here’s a screenshot:

Sadly, the reaction has been mixed. On one hand, there has been an onslaught of negative response. I’m glad to know that. On the other hand, business is up, proving the adage that any publicity is good publicity…

Asked about it, the company owner said this:

“I wasn’t expecting the reactions that we got, nor was it really anything we certainly condone or anything else,” Hornet Signs owner Brad Kolb told KWTX. “But it was just something…we had to put out there to see who notices it.”

Gag me.

The truth is that you knew exactly what you were doing and you are getting the publicity you want. Who wouldn’t notice a life-sized, realistic image of a woman held captive in the back of a pick-up?

And, further, by printing and publicizing it, you are, in my estimation, condoning it. And that’s wrong. Violence against women is a real issue that should not be glorified on a truck decal.

Can we agree that it’s time for this crap to end? Honestly, we have enough trouble dealing with the hard-to-find fruit that’s hidden high up in the male privilege tree.